Ranchers Form Food Distribution Service

OREGON (October 13, 2010)—Phil
Greif and Scot Laney realized they were spending too much money
trucking their products to Portland farmers markets, so they formed Eat
Oregon First.

The company cuts costs for Oregon farmers marketing their goods in Metro Portland.

The company has been around for about 16 months, and is
filling a critical need for Oregon farmers as well as buyers wanting to
purchase artisan-quality goods, says Deborah Kane, Ecotrust’s vice
president of food and farms and creator of the food networking site
FoodHub. Laney and Greif were first introduced via FoodHub.

The
operation is blending the line between farmer and
distributor—incorporating some of the positive practices of industrial,
macro-food giants like Sysco and US Foodservice, while only selling
small-production Oregon items within days of harvest, Laney says.

“Not
everything about corporate food is bad—just at that giant level,” he
says. Laney explains that he offers farmers healthy prices for volume
while competing in the Portland restaurant and retail market. So far,
he’s supplying around 20 chefs and specialty retail customers.

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